Current Affairs Quiz - April 2022

Notes:
Odisha celebrates the 86th foundation day of the state on April 1, known as ‘Utkal Divas’. It is on the same day that the state became independent in the year 1936.
Utkal Divas, also known as Odisha Day and Utkala Dibasa, commemorates the struggle which gained a separate identity for the state.

Notes:
President Ram Nath Kovind recently awarded the ‘best state’ award at the National Water Awards 2022. Uttar Pradesh topped among all Indian states in terms of water conservation while Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu secured the second and third place, respectively.
Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, Thiruvanathapuram in Kerala, East Champaran district of Bihar and Indore in Madhya Pradesh topped in the Best District Category for the north zone, south zone, east zone and west zone respectively.

Notes:
The Punjab Mandi Board has started sending ‘digital form J’ to the farmers from this Rabi procurement season
‘J form’ is the sale receipt of a farmer’s agricultural produce in mandis (grain market). These forms were earlier issued manually by the Commission agents. This move aims to bring transparency as well as empowering farmers and make Punjab the first state in the country to provide digitised form J in real time.

Notes:
The ‘International Day for Mine Awareness’ is observed annually on April 4, across the world. The mine action community, headed by the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) launches activities to create awareness on Mines.
This year, the theme of International Mine Awareness Day stands for “Safe Ground, Safe Steps, Safe Home”.

Notes:
HDFC Bank and HDFC Limited recently announced the merger of the two entities. HDFC Bank, India’s largest private sector bank by assets, has a market cap of Rs 8.35 trillion.
HDFC Limited, India’s largest housing finance company with Assets Under Management (AUM) worth Rs 5.26 trillion and a market cap of Rs 4.44 trillion will merge with HDFC Bank. The subsidiary or associates of HDFC Limited will also be transferred to HDFC Bank, after regulatory approvals.

Notes:
Indian space tech start-up Pixxel successfully launched its first fully-fledged commercial satellite apparently called ‘Shakuntala’ or Pixxel TD-2.
The satellite was launched with Elon Musk-run SpaceX’s Falcon-9 rocket aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-4 mission from Cape Canaveral in the United States. The satellite hosts one of the highest resolution hyper-spectral commercial cameras.

Notes:
As per the data released by the Ministry of Jal Shakti, over 48 percent rural households in the country have received tap water supply in their homes so far.
Out of 19.32 crore rural households in the country, 9.35 crore households are reported to have tap water supply in their homes so far. In Goa, Telangana, Haryana, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, provision for tap water supply to all rural households has been completed.

Notes:
As per the official data, India’s trade deficit rose 87.5 per cent to USD 192.41 billion in 2021-22 as against USD 102.63 billion in the previous year.
While total exports during last fiscal year increased to a record high of USD 417.81 billion, imports too rose to USD 610.22 billion, causing a trade gap of USD 192.41 billion.  For the first time, India’s monthly merchandise exports exceeded USD 40 billion, reaching USD 40.38 billion in March 2022.

Notes:
The Blue Nile, a subsidiary of the Nile River originates at Lake Tana in Ethiopia and travels through Ethiopia and Sudan.
A shipwreck on the Blue Nile River happened in Sudan’s Sennar province has killed 23 people, all of them female. The Blue Nile is an important transport route for people and goods in the African nations.

Notes:
The Antarctic Treaty was signed in 1959 by 12 countries and came into force in 1961. It aimed to demilitarize the Antarctic zone and establish it to be used for peaceful research activities. India signed the Antarctic Treaty in 1983.
Recently, the Union Earth Sciences Minister Dr Jitender Singh tabled the draft Indian Antarctic Bill, 2020.  It is the first domestic legislation with regard to Antarctica in India. It extends the jurisdiction of Indian courts to Antarctica. As many as 27 countries have domestic legislations on Antarctica.